Physician burnout, Einstein's lesson #2 and 30 minutes that can  change your life

We all know Einstein's famous definition of insanity:

"Doing the same thing over and over
and expecting a different result."

The Insanity Definition is LESSON ONE in preventing physician burnout. 

Not only is that obviously crazy, it is one of the core causes of physician burnout. When the going gets tough, our workaholic programming only gives us one coping mechanism - work harder. So that's what we do until we can't keep going any longer.

Einstein's Lesson #2 is the escape hatch on the insanity trap

Here it is:

"No problem can be solved
at the same level of consciousness
that created it"

Here's how this saying applies to a practicing physician

The Quadruple Aim Mission Statement Challenge

Is your organization focused on the Triple Aim or the new Quadruple Aim ... and what impact can you expect on your quality of life?

This 30 second peek at your Mission Statement will show you just how much your organization understands burnout ... and cares about you ... and what you can do about it.

When healthcare quality measures fail us all 

Now that we are in the age of Pay For Performance ( P4P ) we are only beginning to learn how difficult it is to achieve the twin towers of 

• Patient Satisfaction
• Quality Care

Patient satisfaction is a very controversial subject - with the counterintuitive "percent of top" as our measuring stick and the universal acknowledgement that patient demands should not always be honored carte blanche. ( "I need my #90 Rx of Oxy for my fibro, Doc. The pain is awful." )

Can we at least be clear on the definition of Quality?

You would think we could find more solid ground with respect to how to measure quality. But NO! Here comes a study showing just how hard it is to define and incentivize quality care.

I can assure you that situations where you follow a care protocol to the letter, the patient has a bad outcome and you are penalized despite deploying the "best practice" only add to the stress that drives the epidemic of physician burnout.

Full details below ... on a best practice protocol and quality incentive that failed everyone involved
... especially the patient

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The evolution of DVT as an
"every once in a while is OK" event

Physician Burnout Rates Top 50% in latest Mayo Study - and that is not the worst of it

For a while now I have been suspicious that physician burnout rates are increasing here in the USA, especially in the last five years or so. I have been waiting for the research to catch up with my suspicions for a while now. Here is the smoking gun.

Mayo Clinic Proceedings this month published results of round two of their survey of burnout in physicians compared to burnout in the "normal population". The last round in 2011 was major news across the country and the first study that compared physician burnout rates to those of non-physician workers.

The burnout rates are what I expected. The shocker is the number of physicians screening positive for depression and suicidal ideation that no one is reporting on.

The headline trends are these

• From 2011 to 2014 physician burnout rates increased
• AND the gap between physician burnout rates and burnout rates in the normal population widened

The headline stats are these 

Date night secrets for the busy physician

Let me ask you a quick question. When was your last quality Date Night? If it was more than two months ago, this post is specifically for you.

One of the key factors in preventing physician burnout is a strong primary relationship with your loved ones. None is as important as your relationship with your spouse/significant other. 

Unfortunately a Date Night is often something that gets left out of our busy weeks. When I train groups of doctors is is not uncommon for half the hands to go up when I ask the question, "How many of you have not had a date night in the last two months." 

Date Nights are a key tool to prevent physician burnout

Here are five Date Night Secrets we teach all of our private coaching clients

Physician Burnout - EMR Shaming Has to STOP

Every time I survey a group of physicians asking, "What are the top three stressors in your practice day?" ... EMR and other documentation issues ALWAYS make the list. This is true regardless of specialty without exception. 

EMR is a slave to Big Data, designed by people who have never seen a patient and it is a huge cause of physician burnout in a significant number of doctors.

AND we can do a MUCH better job of helping our physicians clear the EMR hurdle in their day if we STOP SHAMING the people who struggle the most.

Here is a common practice scenario for a burned out physician who comes to us for coaching.

Remember the last really lousy meeting you had to sit through?

You have a whole pile of work back in your office, but you are stuck here in yet another soul sucking meeting that is going absolutely nowhere.

Poorly run meetings are incredibly common in healthcare and a MAJOR cause of burnout in physician leaders - especially if you are a "straddle leader" with both clinical and leadership roles. 

Wouldn't it be great if you could stop the downward spiral and get the meeting back on track - even if you aren't the person running it??

Let us show you how to save any meeting from the back of the room with the "Guerrilla Facilitator's Manual".

ICD-10 launch has come and gone and we all survived

Fortunately the silliness continues. Here are some Monty Python worthy ICD-10 codes for your enjoyment along with some curious holes in ICD-10 we cannot explain. In fact, the sillier this gets, the more you realize ICD-10 is not nearly as comprehensive as it truly needs to be.  ;-)

18 Silly ICD-10 Codes

- Bitten by a cow - W55.21

There are no references to any injuries from bulls. How do the Pamplona ER docs cope with this shocking oversight.

- Pecked by a chicken - W61.33
- Struck by a Macaw - W61.12

There are also references to parrot induced injuries (bite or collision with) but no references to roosters, peacocks, ostriches or parakeets. The catch all "other bird" category must suffice.

The Most Interesting Man in the world speaks ICD-10

Here in the week after implementation of ICD-10 is what the most interesting man in the world has to say ...

In our work with thousands of doctors we have created, tested and refined many tools to reverse the downward spiral of physician burnout. In this article we will show you our Top Three Tools to build the life balance you are craving.

1. The Schedule HACK
2. Bucket List Secrets
3. Quick NO, Slow YES

Before we begin it is essential you understand first that Physician Burnout is NOT a Problem

It is a DILEMMA of the highest order requiring a coordinated STRATEGY to address your specific matrix of stress sources. Your strategy is a group of 3 - 5 tools you hand select from the four parts of the burnout prevention MATRIX.

De-stressing your Practice is Step One

Once you learn how to get home sooner, you can move to Step Two: